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http://www.rssboard.org/rss-specificationmojoPortal Blog Moduleen-US120noFaster Transactions by Blockchain Technology, Challenges, and OpportunitiesIt is usual in transaction processing to have an intermediary undertaking the responsibility of investigating and authorizing payments. In spite of being a necessary step in proving the appropriateness of financial procedures, it entails taking some time which can be much more, about five days, when it comes to international transactions.

Blockchain technology, however, can help remove some of the problems the businessmen and investors suffer from. The main features of Blockchain technology like owning a decentralized, digital distributed ledger technology remove the necessity of any intermediary which results in quicker transaction processing and lower fees.

Its multi-dimensional aspect intrigues other businesses such as insurance companies to utilize it too. The major reason is giving more transparency to the transactions no matter what they are. On the other hand, what has been pointed out about the uses of cryptocurrency doesn’t mean total removal of institutions like banks.

According to LBX, a cryptocurrency exchange in the UK, Visa had the highest record of the number of transactions per second by 24000 (considering the fact that it has had about 6 decades to improve its infrastructures in the field of cryptocurrencies) and the second place was for Ripple with a very sharp gap compared to the first; with the number of transactions amounting to one-sixteenth of what Visa shows. The lowest level, however, is for Bitcoin with 7 transactions per second.

Regarding Blockchain-based cryptocurrency networks, Ripple has the highest speed. Some other cryptocurrencies placed below Ripple are: Bitcoin Cash, with 60 transactions per second and showing a performance about one-third of the second rank cryptocurrency in this hierarchy; i.e. PayPal; Litecoin, having less significant difference with its upper-level rival (56 transactions per second), Dash and Ethereum with fewer numbers of transactions and lower ranks respectively.

In case the number of transactions increases there will not be any difference in the speed; it might be balanced through raising the fees. What can influence the speed of a transaction is again related to the fees. Transactions which are paid for more by the user will become the priority of the miners, so they will be the fastest ones accordingly. The other would be the cryptocurrency popularity; the more popular the currency is, the more time is needed for each transaction due to pressures on the network.

On the other hand, to be competitive enough in order to sustain in this volatile market needs reaching acceptable speed. One method used to speed up the transaction is applying a soft fork to make more room for processing the transaction. The other is Lightning network which allows the simultaneous occurrence of macro- and microtransactions thanks to handling transaction affairs offline. The second alternative started in January 2018, and some other new methods might be created to accelerate the speed of transactions on Blockchain platform from now on.

Editor...]]>https://www.counos.io/faster-transactions-by-blockchain-technology-challenges-and-opportunities-
n.sherafatnejad@farhost.net (Editor)https://www.counos.io/faster-transactions-by-blockchain-technology-challenges-and-opportunities-https://www.counos.io/faster-transactions-by-blockchain-technology-challenges-and-opportunities-Tue, 26 Feb 2019 05:22:00 GMTGetting to Know Concepts of Digital Trust-based SystemsTrust is a risky judgment after investigating future hazard between two parties; in the current digital world, delineating trust entails authentication and attaining permissions; to put it simply, the ultimate objective of this process is to know whether you are whom you say you are and whether you are able to do what you want to.

In Blockchain technology, private key encryption provides a powerful ownership tool that meets the needs of authentication. Possessing a private key means ownership. This key will prevent the person from sharing too much information even he/she would like to. Handing over unnecessary information can make the user’s information security vulnerable against hacking and attacking.

Authentication will not suffice on its own. Having permission to do certain activities, having enough money to conduct the transaction properly, etc. requires trust making, and that, in turn, demands a distributed and peer-to-peer network. A distributed network will reduce the chance of breaking down and failing of a centralized organization.

This distributed network should be executable in an accounting system, in a way that it should have a place to store data and records. Furthermore, its security should be guaranteed. Confirming transactions shows that protocol’s predetermined regulations are being enforced and implemented by the whole network.

Confirmation and the permission issued through this mechanism allows for interacting in the digital world without the need for a third parties (mediums). Today, entrepreneurs in the field of industries praise this development worldwide. International competitions in the digital domain are unexpected, new, powerful, and admirable. Blockchain technology is often known as an infrastructure for one layer of the transaction on the internet, and it is the basis on which cryptocurrencies are founded.

In fact, the idea of encrypting keys and public ledger, enjoying high security, encourages users to recognize this field of technology. Therefore, many states, IT companies, and banks seek after and want to implement this layer of the transaction.

Authentication and issuing permission, which are of utmost importance in digital trades, are the result of applying Blockchain as an infrastructure for digital trades and encryption.

This idea can be implemented in case of any necessity for a reliable record system.

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n.sherafatnejad@farhost.net (Editor)https://www.counos.io/getting-to-know-concepts-of-digital-trust-based-systemshttps://www.counos.io/getting-to-know-concepts-of-digital-trust-based-systemsWed, 06 Feb 2019 07:22:00 GMTMore than 60 Percent of Cryptocurrency Thefts Committed by Two Expert Groups!Recently, Chainalysis company presented a report denoting that two groups of expert hackers have committed most cyber-attacks in the field of cryptocurrency. This report was made by gathering and analyzing cyber incidents at the institutions and organizations such as trade centers which are active in cryptocurrency. These incidents include grand thefts up to tens and hundreds of millions of dollars. Based on the estimations of Chainalysis, these two expert groups have succeeded in stealing approximately $1 billion in cryptocurrencies in their attacks, which accounts for at least 60% of published public reports. In Chainalysis report, these two groups are called Alpha and Beta.

The first groups, Alpha, is an organized and conservative group which has aims beyond merely getting rich! Though, its aims have not been elaborated in Chainalysis report.

The second group, called Beta, is less conservative toward hiding its illicit activities, and smaller as well as less organized compared to Alpha. This group interred here just for profit.

In order to make their hacks obscure, both groups transfer the stolen assets among various wallets so to make it hard to trace. For instance, in a hack by Alpha, the stolen cryptocurrency was moved 15 thousand times, and then quickly changed to cash. Alpha group usually liquidates the stolen cryptocurrencies thirty days after the theft, but Beta tends toward keeping it. Beta usually keeps the stolen assets for months and most of the times for more than a year and then changes it into cash.

Chainalysis has announced that it has gained no more information about these two groups, and it is even possible for the current information to be incorrect. These findings proposed a new and threatening view about cryptocurrencies. Although one of the threats to the cryptocurrency networks is the dominance of one group who has the most mining computing power, called the 51-percent attack, but it seems that the activities of these two groups are not necessarily limited to this type of attack. These results show how a small group can influence the entire field of cryptocurrencies by its activities.

According to statistics published by CipherTrace in December 2018, cryptocurrency theft has had a significant rise compared to that of two previous years. In the third quarter of 2018, hackers stole about $927 million from its related trade centers and platforms, while in 2016 and 2017 it was $152 and $226 million respectively.

In the report published by Group-IB last year, the source of some of the prominent attacks in the field of cryptocurrencies is said to be North Korean hacker group, Lazarus. It is stated in this report that Lazarus group has stolen an approximate amount of $571 million during 2017 and 2018 from cryptocurrency trade centers such as Yapizon, Coins, YouBit, CoinCheck, and Bithumb. It seems that in the face of international sanctions, the field of cryptocurrencies has been a more suitable target for this hacker group. By putting these two reports together, it can be deduced that one of Alpha or Beta groups in Chainalysis report can be Lazarus group.

This and other similar reports show that the field of cryptocurrency is vulnerable against cyber incidents and it requires security provisions more than before. Inattention to this important matter can harm the credibility of companies active in cryptocurrency, and this would leave no choice for these companies but to abandon it.

Editor...]]>https://www.counos.io/more-than-60-percent-of-cryptocurrency-thefts-committed-by-two-expert-groups
n.sherafatnejad@farhost.net (Editor)https://www.counos.io/more-than-60-percent-of-cryptocurrency-thefts-committed-by-two-expert-groupshttps://www.counos.io/more-than-60-percent-of-cryptocurrency-thefts-committed-by-two-expert-groupsMon, 04 Feb 2019 08:57:00 GMTConsenSys and AMD Cooperation to Develop Blockchain-Based Cloud Computing InfrastructureBlockchain software company, ConsenSys, semiconductor manufacturer AMD, and investment management firm, Halo Holdings in Abu Dhabi, are cooperating on a project to develop a Blockchain-based cloud computing infrastructure. ConsenSys announced this news in an interview on June 4. Also, these companies built W3BCLOUD device which is used to develop AMD hardware-based data center product to be used in the future to provide Blockchain-based infrastructure. In this regard, ConsenSys will designate some specialists in the area of Blockchain transactions computing, security matters, and applications in technology.

Blockchain-Based Cloud Computing

Cloud computing infrastructure is a type of database which has been implemented on a cloud computing basis. Many companies apply this basis to perform computations regarding their database. However, with the advent of Blockchain technology, the database has assumed a new concept; hence, companies such as AMD and ConsenSys are aspiring to combine Blockchain with a cloud computing system to build a comprehensive infrastructure that would be able to eliminate cloud computing problems.

Reportedly, W2BCLOUD is supposed to be the first independent Blockchain cloud computing infrastructure to meet the needs of the public and private sectors. Product and Blockchain technology manager, Joreg Roskowetz, stated that this product is going to be designed to tackle challenges such as smart identity, enterprise data centers, and health ID tracking to issue license and supply chain management. AMD chips have been very popular in the Blockchain network, and they are especially used for cryptocurrency mining. From the one hand, 10% of this company income in the last quarter income has come from cryptocurrency mining. With the changes in Bitcoin price, hype and investment in this area have decreased and according to the miners, themselves, their revenue was minimal at the end of 2018.

Recently in December, ConsenSys signed a Memorandum of Understanding with SK Group, a South Korean company. This Memorandum was about developing a Blockchain business model using smart contracts. Moreover, this Memorandum included training Ethereum Blockchain developers in the South Korea by the SK Holdings C&C’s Tech Training Center from the ConsenSys company.

In November, AMD cooperated with seven technology big cats to develop eight new cryptocurrency mining rigs. AMD announced that this cooperation leads to new Blockchain computational solutions in the market to meet the needs of innovative Blockchain platforms. Furthermore, AMD released a video on Blockchain, which was about the main features of this technology, and named its main advantages to be trust, integrity, and security.

Editor...]]>https://www.counos.io/consensys-and-amd-cooperation-to-develop-blockchain-based-cloud-computing-infrastructure
n.sherafatnejad@farhost.net (Editor)https://www.counos.io/consensys-and-amd-cooperation-to-develop-blockchain-based-cloud-computing-infrastructurehttps://www.counos.io/consensys-and-amd-cooperation-to-develop-blockchain-based-cloud-computing-infrastructureSat, 02 Feb 2019 03:21:00 GMT2018, the Year for Cryptocurrency Malware Parade2018 was one of the strangest years in the field of cryptocurrency technology. It can even be said that during the ten years that cryptocurrencies have emerged, in no year has there been more contradictory news than last year; from numerous cyber-attacks and influx of malwares to the drop in the price of cryptocurrencies near the end of 2018. On the other hand, 2018 included some of the most important negotiations in different regulatory institutions in different countries in order to lay the appropriate legal foundation to control and standardize cryptocurrencies.

Among all these news, perhaps the news about the influx of malwares in cryptocurrencies was the most controversial. However, this was not exclusive to cryptocurrencies, and there was a lot of news about hacking users and stealing from their credit card all over the world.

Coin mining malwares inflicted the most attacks in 2018. After the increase in the price of cryptocurrencies, these coin mining malwares use the victims’ computers processing system to mine cryptocurrencies. When a device is exposed to such malwares, a destructive software is run in the background and increases energy use, which in turn decreases the speed and function of the device. This was not particularly for home computers, and in fact, many of these malwares had infiltrated the network routers of the biggest companies in the world. MacAfee security lab announced in mid-2018 that it had discovered a malware named “WebCobra.” This malware would infiltrate victims’ computers and then turn them into hardware for mining cryptocurrency. The range of such malwares increased so much in 2018 that it is estimated that they have infiltrated more than millions of devices. The greatest number of infiltrated devices was observed in Brazil, South Africa, and the United States.

Furthermore, there have even emerged web-based malwares in the area of cryptocurrencies. In 2018, a malware was identified that could hijack the information of the users’ wallet through infiltrating the Safari browser of iPhone users and then stealing their cryptocurrency assets.

However, it did not end here. Later on, it turned out that cryptocurrency mining malwares also infiltrated many Amazon devices that run on Android.

The amount of news published about malwares and hijacking of cryptocurrency information was so much last year that many analysts believe that one of the reasons for the loss of cryptocurrency value has been the feeling of financial insecurity among users.

Yet, with some updates for the configuration of home computers and an increase in security measures from labs such as MacAfee, it can be expected that in 2019 the security of users will increase in cryptocurrency market.

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n.sherafatnejad@farhost.net (Editor)https://www.counos.io/2018-the-year-for-cryptocurrency-malware-paradehttps://www.counos.io/2018-the-year-for-cryptocurrency-malware-paradeTue, 22 Jan 2019 07:13:00 GMTFurther Increase in the Price of Cryptocurrencies; $250 Increase in Bitcoin Price Only in a Few HoursAll cryptocurrencies had a falling trend in their price last week. Bitcoin, with the largest cryptocurrency market in the world, reached $4000 during last weeks, but its price again decreased to about $3400; although, today, January 14, a suitable market formed for cryptocurrencies. Almost all cryptocurrencies experienced a definite rise in their prices recently.

The price of Bitcoin rose to about $3700 and experienced a 250-Dollar increase in only a couple of hours. On the other side, other cryptocurrencies had a similar experience. Ethereum had a 7-percent increase, and its price reached 130 dollars per Ethereum.

The price of Ripple rose by 4%. One of the highest increase rates among all cryptocurrencies was in Tron; although this cryptocurrency experienced a sharp price drop last week, it faced a-higher-than-15% increase in a day.

The Reason for the Increase in Prices

Not one specific reason can be stated for the increase in the price of cryptocurrencies. Yet, there were many reports about the more significant activities of investors in the field of cryptocurrencies, which seems like it was effective in the cryptocurrency price increase. On the other hand, the reports about the augmentation in the activity of Bitcoin whales has had a dramatic influence in the trades of the Blockchain technologies. Bitcoin whales are wallets that hold a considerable proportion of Bitcoins and other cryptocurrencies. The assets of many Bitcoin whales are more than hundreds of thousands of Bitcoins, and by moving their capital, they can easily control the price of cryptocurrencies.

It seems that the increase in cryptocurrency prices will continue until the end of the current week.

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n.sherafatnejad@farhost.net (Editor)https://www.counos.io/further-increase-in-the-price-of-cryptocurrencies-250-increase-in-bitcoin-price-only-in-a-few-hourshttps://www.counos.io/further-increase-in-the-price-of-cryptocurrencies-250-increase-in-bitcoin-price-only-in-a-few-hoursSat, 19 Jan 2019 13:17:00 GMTJapan Financial Services Agency Grants Cryptocurrency Exchange Permit to Coincheck PlatformBased on a report published by Cointelegraph Japan news website on January 11, quoting an official communique, Japan Financial Services Agency (FSA) granted a complete cryptocurrency exchange permit to Coincheck platform in order to continue its operations there. This achievement came a year after hackers had stolen half a billion dollars in an attack.

Coincheck is a cryptocurrency exchange platform and Bitcoin wallet, which was founded in 2014. The services Coincheck exchange offers include exchanging fiat currency (a currency without intrinsic value, its value is determined only based on government order and regulation), Bitcoin, or Ethereum. Coincheck is a member of the Japan Blockchain association and one of the main developers of the cryptocurrency usage standards for Japan government.

The blockchain is a distributed and encrypted database. Therefore, no one is able to manipulate the history of transactions, and this history is transparently available to users. One of the known applications of Blockchain are cryptocurrencies which are founded on this infrastructure. This technology provides security in cryptocurrencies. Cryptocurrency is an encrypted currency which is also known as electronic money, virtual money, or currency crypto. The first cryptocurrency based on Blockchain that was introduced to the market was Bitcoin.

The coincheck platform which was attacked in January 2018 and lost $530 million worth of altcoin tokens (altcoins are cryptocurrencies released into the market after Bitcoin and consider themselves as a good alternative for Bitcoin), has now joined the community of licensed cryptocurrency exchanges in Japan market.

Altcoins are cryptocurrencies that were introduced after Bitcoin; Many altcoins were built based on the principles of Bitcoin and were released through a change in the mining process or the manner of altering transactions.

This was an important and prominent step for Monex exchange and online broker which bought Coincheck in April for the nominal amount of $33.5 million.

Monex group made some changes in Coincheck exchange; during these organizational changes, Yusuke Otsuka, its chief operating officer, was ousted and replaced with Toshihiko Katsuya, a Monex employee. Moreover, Koichiro Wada, founder, and CEO of Coincheck was degraded from his post.

Additionally, Coincheck removed cryptocurrencies such as Dash (a kind of cryptocurrency used to be known as dark coin or X coin), ZCash (a kind of cryptocurrency with more security compared to other cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin), and Monero (a kind of cryptocurrency which is implementable on operating systems like Linux, Windows, macOS, Android, and FreeBSD) from its list of cryptocurrencies.

The reason was the risk of preventing the firm from compliance with anti-money laundering regulations.

According to a report published on January 11 by Monex group, Coincheck has been specifically registered at the Kanto Financial Bureau of Japan.

Monex group is a dependent financial services company in Tokyo, Japan which was founded on April 5, 1999.

During this time, developers gradually returned function to users and organizations and managed the stolen coins.

Last year, Japan sought to deploy a legal and official initiative due to the disturbing condition of security setups in exchanges, in order to increase the security of exchanges. Despite tighter constraints, some small-scale attacks are still happening; so much so that the Japanese cryptocurrency exchange Zaif was attacked in September and lost about $20 million.

Also, Cointelegraph news website reported on Friday about Japan government investigation in cryptocurrency exchange security in South Korea, less than one-third of platforms in this area had satisfactory performance.

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admin@admin.com (Admin)https://www.counos.io/japan-financial-services-agency-grants-cryptocurrency-exchange-permit-to-coincheck-platformhttps://www.counos.io/japan-financial-services-agency-grants-cryptocurrency-exchange-permit-to-coincheck-platformWed, 16 Jan 2019 14:42:00 GMTSwitzerland Government’s Legal Proceedings to Alleviate Blockchain-Based Financial ExchangesHundreds of companies are working in different cities of Switzerland like Zurich and Geneva on Blockchain-based trade which have not had any legal form yet. With developing these companies, Switzerland government intends to adapt Blockchain sector exchanges to financial-monetary rules of this country.

A few days ago, Switzerland National Federal Council released a statement on making a legal framework for Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) and Blockchain.

DLT is like a DataBase which is not registered on any concentrated server; rather, all data regardless of type, are stored among all platform users who are called “nodes,” and any kind of change will be applied to all data and all users.

In another way, each node owns a version of all data, and each update is applied on all nodes. Accordingly, each update should be confirmed by all network users, and changes will never be made without other users’ observance.

This performance system causes transparency, security, intermediary removal, and as a result, costs- and time-saving.

It was mentioned in the statement released by Switzerland, that it is possible to be coordinated with modern technologies in spite of existing mechanisms in Switzerland regulations; however, there is still a need to change. A measure which has been “an innovative and noticeable movement for a certain trade via digital currencies”, according to Switzerland government Secretariat announcement.

It is outlined in some parts of this statement that:

- policymakers are entitled to pave the way for innovation in this area by offering legal mechanisms.

- Switzerland government should provide trade mechanisms in DLT and Blockchain quickly.

- Switzerland should introduce itself as an attractive place for investment in the field of DLT and Blockchain to the world.

- Switzerland should propel itself toward using new technologies.

In the first step, the council has proposed an amendment for securities laws to increase the legal validity of cryptocurrencies. One of the high executive authorities of Switzerland said that:

Decentralized data entry used for the interested people can be offered to the public in the form of intellectual property. It can be the primary phase to regulate this platform.

Moreover, this council intends to exempt digital assets from the solvents’ belongings seizure process; although, because of the presence of Debt Enforcement and Bankruptcy Act, DEBA, in Switzerland, such problems do not seem to be easily solved.

On the other side, government body suggested in an act to create an infrastructure for Blockchain investors through classifying legal permissions issued by Financial Market Infrastructure Act (FMIA); although, there has not yet been made any change in related rules to securities and their derivatives influencing investment on Blockchain. FMIA is a policy-making body in a financial field in Switzerland government according to its enforced rules the trade will be possible.

According to anti-money laundering act organization announcement in Switzerland, currently, just creating primary rules can help the legal performance of digital currency-related exchanges and ICOs. This organization has announced that based on existing regulations, there is no need to have a fundamental change in rules — this organization with the cooperation of Financial Action Task Force, FATF, attempt to tackle with financing terrorism and money laundry.

Switzerland government has been working on legal condition for Blockchain since 2106, while Federal Department of Finance has concentrated on regulating Fintech. Moreover, Switzerland’s Financial Market Supervisory Authority, FINMA, has recently rendered applied permission for the companies working on Blockchain and digital currencies; however, the events found importance when Switzerland government witnessed a high public potential in Crypto-valley, i.e., the ecosystem used for collecting startups in this field.

Financial markets in all countries try to attract investors to their market through offering appropriate services and facilities, but the point is that all countries try to adapt their financial market with anti-money laundering and anti-terrorism rules in order to avoid new platforms like Blockchain change into a way to help terrorism.

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n.sherafatnejad@farhost.net (Editor)https://www.counos.io/switzerland-government’s-legal-proceedings-to-alleviate-blockchain-based-financial-exchangeshttps://www.counos.io/switzerland-government’s-legal-proceedings-to-alleviate-blockchain-based-financial-exchangesThu, 10 Jan 2019 09:18:00 GMTChanges in Cryptocurrency Prices Are Not Due to Bear MarketFollowing a quiet weekend, the digital currency market was relatively stable, and currently, the transactions decrease slightly over 24 hours. Last Friday, the digital currency markets surged to recover some of their recent losses; for example, Bitcoin jumped from the minimum of $3600 to about $4000. Aside from Bitcoin, other markets did not have enough upward surge to propel Bitcoin to surpass $4000 and drifted slightly downwards.

Cryptocurrency Markets Could Face Further Price Drop in Near Future

Bitcoin inability to break above $4000 caused digital currency markets to have relatively even transactions, and they could face increased downward pressure in the coming days or weeks.

Ineffective trading activities in the market may disappoint the investors and analysts who have promoted. Price predictions claimed that the digital currency markets regain much of what they have lost by the end of 2018. It now appears that the 2018 bear market will spill into 2019, which could mark a powerful start to the New Year.

DonAlt, a popular digital currency analyst on Twitter, designated his last tweet to the current price of Bitcoin and talked about how he trades with current Bitcoin price changes and said he expects the Bitcoin price will get to what it used to be $3400.

Most Bitcoin Alternate Coins, Altcoins, Will Drop about 2 Percent

Bitcoin’s gradual downwards movement has led to a drop in the altcoin markets. Ripple (XRP) is traded approximately 2 percent higher than its current price, $0.36. XRP is able to maintain all of the recent profits after its 2 percent increase from $0.34.

Ethereum has only dropped 1% over a 24-hour period and is currently traded at $137.23. Over the past week, Ethereum has had quite great increases and decreases, at first falling to $115 and then surging to the maximum of $150. Then its price dropped to its current levels.

Bitcoin Cash digital currency has dropped to about 2.5 percent, and it is currently being traded at $160. During the past seven days, the value of Bitcoin Cash had dropped to the minimum level of $144. Moreover, in the past month, it even fell to $75.

Jed McCaleb, Stellar Platform Creator: “Cryptocurrency Market Is Not a Bear Market; We Are Not Involved in the Prices.”

Jed McCaleb, the creator of the Stellar platform (Stellar digital currency), says that “despite the ongoing drop in values and investors’ discontent, the current digital currency market is not a bear market, and it is only the prices that are in decline.”

Stellar which independently forms its financial activities like Bitcoin and other digital currencies, at first operated based on the Ripple platform (XRP); however, the changes imposed on it, turned Stellar into a separate fork.

A Fork or a split creates an updated version of the intended digital currency Blockchain, in a way that two Blockchains can be run simultaneously, depending on the fork type. The soft fork is an updated version compatible with the previous one, and hard fork is an updated version incompatible with the previous one.

In an interview with McCaleb, he was asked about his long-term experience in this industry, and if he thinks that Bitcoin and Blockchain will be adapted to the financial institutions, and also about the ongoing digital currency bear market. In this regard, he only said, “in my idea, this is a joke. We don’t pay much attention to prices and this matter does not relate to us very much.” He suggested that higher prices bring more interest to space, and this provides active companies in these projects with a cash flow to continue development.

McCaleb further added that more cash flow for space is a good idea. Even projects owning the most technical qualifications, such as Bitcoin, may never see the adaption of digital currencies to financial institutions. He believes that banks will never adapt to Bitcoin.

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admin@admin.com (Admin)https://www.counos.io/changes-in-cryptocurrency-prices-are-not-due-to-bear-markethttps://www.counos.io/changes-in-cryptocurrency-prices-are-not-due-to-bear-marketThu, 10 Jan 2019 08:27:00 GMTAmerican Economy Association in Relation with Encryption and BlockchainOn January 4, American Economy Association, AEA, hosted four specialized lectures in cryptocurrency and Blockchain as a part of its annual meeting. The blockchain is an encrypted infrastructure on which Bitcoin and other digital currencies (encrypted currencies) work. It provides security in encrypted currencies. So, no one can manipulate transactions records, and they are available for the users transparently. The first cryptocurrency based on blockchain which came to the market was Bitcoin. This encrypted platform enjoys four major benefits:

• Not being controlled by any institution or person

• Impossible to face failure and cessation

• Recording transactions in a connected network of all users

• The necessity of manipulating the whole network in case of the need to manipulate Blockchain information

In this assembly held under the title of “Blockchain and Tokenomics,” four academic articles have been covered from numerous resources.

It is hosted by the academic group the Econometrics Society chaired by Lin William Cong, assistant professor of finance at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

United States Journal of Economy Criticism is a peer-reviewed academic journal. AEA has published twelve (previously seven) subjects. The first subject was published in 1911 which was assumed as one of the most valid and the best outstanding papers in the economy. Selected articles and related arguments rendered at annual meetings of AEA have been published by the reports of the authorities, commission, and representatives.

AEA is a big agency in the realm of the United States economy and beyond that, which publishes reputable American Economic Review. AEA is a trained association in the economy and was founded in 1885 in New York by young economists educated at famous schools in Germany. The purposes of this association include:

It does not support any groups or parties and does not involve its members in functional issues of the economy.

The advent of a specific event to digital currency, just like Blockchain, is interesting for this association. It is a sign of the lengthening the main route of these technologies.

Following four titles have been covered on January 4:

• Decentralized mining in centralized pools

• Cryptocurrencies: Stylized Facts on a New Investible Instrument

• A Theory of ICOs: Diversification, Agency, and Information Asymmetry

• Tokenomics: Dynamic Compensation for Decentralized Contribution

These articles cover the specific and extraordinary spectrum of encryption principles. For instance, the second article in this association investigates how altcoins which are a replacement for digital currencies return the investors’ net profit, and to some extent, they are related to Bitcoin performance.

Mining which was the subject of the Congress itself is a subject related to the current condition; since, Bitcoin price which fell during last year has shown a strong revolution in this field.

Mining is a process followed by acquiring cryptocurrencies in the world of encrypted cryptocurrencies.

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admin@admin.com (Admin)https://www.counos.io/american-economy-association-in-relation-with-encryption-and-blockchainhttps://www.counos.io/american-economy-association-in-relation-with-encryption-and-blockchainThu, 10 Jan 2019 07:21:00 GMTBitcoin Marked the New Year with Slight Decline; Mining Difficulty for the First Time Since OctoberThe statistical data from Blockchain and Bitcoin Wisdom websites confirm that most recent difficulty of Bitcoin network has increased over 10 percent.

The process of difficulty is one of the best and smartest parts of the Bitcoin network (a type of Blockchain and cryptocurrency). Network difficulty refers to the time a miner needs to mine a block of transactions in Blockchain and start the next block for mining. The blockchain is an encrypted data structure.

Mining difficulty has increased for the first time since early October indicating that miners have deployed a larger hash power into the network. After a sharp 31.5 percent decline in the last quarter of this year, Bitcoin mining difficulty rose about 3 percent in the last week. As Hacked reported last month, there doesn’t seem to be a comparable drop in mining difficulty over the years, which reflects the severity of the recent bear market trend.

A bear market is a market wherein stocks declining trend and recession is the order of the day in the financial market. There is a negative atmosphere in this type of market, the supply increases, and the demand decreases. Therefore, trading volume lowers, and the market falls into recession and lethargy. Risk of loss is very high in the bear market, as prices lose their value constantly; but keep in mind that a price drop over a day or a week is not the sign of bear market. In this regard, one should not have a short-term perspective and should investigate the issue in the long run.

According to Bitcoinist, since July, along with the decrease in Bitcoin price, it has experienced repeated downward adjustments, and miners need lower costs to avoid incurring the network loss.

Miners work toward providing security and also confirming Bitcoin transactions.

In the current year, five downward adjustments have appeared for Bitcoin – once in July, once in October, once in November, and twice in December. These numbers are unprecedented over the past seven years.

The largest shift was 15.1 percent, on December 3, when Bitcoin had a 0.07 percent drop in the U.S. Dollar with the value of $3834.91 in BTC/USD. During this time Bitcoin was in a tough spot; at the same time miners, fearing profitability, were leaving this network.

Bitcoin figures completely dismissed claims implying trouble in Bitcoin; Alistair Milne, the British investor, and entrepreneur called these claims narrow-minded after publishing the fresh hash rate data in social media on December 31.

Hash rate is the completion speed of computing operation in the Bitcoin code. The higher hash rate during mining, the better; since there would be more time for the next block and receiving a reward. Mining cryptocurrencies include finding blocks through complex computations. In fact, the hash rate is the speed at which mining hardware operates.

Bitcoin hash rate has declined since August, But the decrease in difficulty around mid-December brought along a U-turn process. This, to some, demonstrates the power of Bitcoin so that they consider it without a central authority. Currently, few commentators expect a breakout in Bitcoin in the short term; but technical condition continues well to constitute a reason for celebration.

Lightning Network, Bitcoin’s holistic and scalable solution, has hit new records for capacity and participation in the last month. The Lightning Network is a second layer payment protocol that operates on top of a cryptocurrency.

Also, Jimmy Song, a Bitcoin developer, described the decentralized nature of Bitcoin in a blog post on Monday as something that can increase its separation from other Bitcoin alternatives, altcoin, in 2019.

Bitcoin alternate currencies or altcoins are digital currencies that were released after Bitcoin and introduced themselves as better alternatives for Bitcoin. These digital currencies were made within the fundamental framework of Bitcoin, and most of them were quite similar.

In the last quarter of 2018, a sudden drop in the price of Bitcoin, which made a lot of people move away from the world of digital currency, was accompanied with a decrease in Bitcoin mining difficulty. The shared market of digital currencies experienced a decrease of about $100.4 billion before improving in the second half of December. In this process, millions of Bitcoin miners ceased their activities.

Admin...]]>https://www.counos.io/bitcoin-marked-the-new-year-with-slight-decline-mining-difficulty-for-the-first-time-since-october
admin@admin.com (Admin)https://www.counos.io/bitcoin-marked-the-new-year-with-slight-decline-mining-difficulty-for-the-first-time-since-octoberhttps://www.counos.io/bitcoin-marked-the-new-year-with-slight-decline-mining-difficulty-for-the-first-time-since-octoberWed, 09 Jan 2019 07:41:00 GMTBitcoin Has Had Minimum Average Daily Price Change in The Last YearIn 2018, the average daily price change of Bitcoin was at its lowest level reported in the last nine years. In fact, the price of Bitcoin (one type of cryptocurrencies) did not behave as expected during 2018. Indeed, Bitcoin experienced people’s tendency to trade in the bear market below the market prices which influenced the whole cryptocurrency industry.

A bear market refers to a situation when stocks have a declining trend and recession is the order of the day in the financial market. There is a negative atmosphere in such a market, the supply increases, and the demand decreases.

On December 30, Jameson Lopp, a Cypherpunk movement activist, said in his tweeter that :

“In the current year, Bitcoin average daily value change was -0.33 percent. Bitcoin, itself, with -0.25 percent in 2014 is in the second place regarding the minimum average daily price change. However, an average daily price change of Bitcoin increased up to 0.09 percent in 2015.”

Cypherpunk was a movement which began in 1980; Cypherpunk was someone who supported the development of cryptography and technologies that increased the privacy of people in order to make changes in society and politics. This movement was among the foundations of digital currencies.

The year with the highest average daily price change for Bitcoin, i.e., 0.82 %, was 2014. Then in 2017, Bitcoin had another average daily price change growth with 0.78 percent.

One month prior to this statement, he had predicted that Bitcoin would be around $3000, soon enough Bitcoin price reached $3.192.

Furthermore, Tone Vays, a cryptocurrency trader and bear market analyst, had recently warned that this price would fall to the minimum level of $1300 and announced that this would definitely happen before further growth in Bitcoin’s price.

At the time of writing this piece of news, Bitcoin trading price is below $3800, and the entire market capitalization is $66.21 billion.

Several cryptocurrency analysts have predicted that Bitcoin would grow further in 2018, but their predictions had not come true.

Charlie Lee, the Litecoin founder, was one of the few who warned about the possible risks of investing in virtual currencies. Litecoin, LTC, is a peer-to-peer cryptocurrency and it is technically similar to Bitcoin. He wrote on his Twitter at the end of 2017 that Litecoin could drop down to $20 at any moment. Litecoin dropped down to $23 a few weeks ago.

Admin...]]>https://www.counos.io/bitcoin-has-had-minimum-average-daily-price-change-in-the-last-year
admin@admin.com (Admin)https://www.counos.io/bitcoin-has-had-minimum-average-daily-price-change-in-the-last-yearhttps://www.counos.io/bitcoin-has-had-minimum-average-daily-price-change-in-the-last-yearWed, 09 Jan 2019 07:26:00 GMTMIT Believes that Blockchain Will Become Normalized in 2019Today, 11/2/19, MIT Technology Review published an article announcing that Blockchain will finally become normalized in 2019. Despite being independent, this journal belongs to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the U.S. It was stated in this article that Blockchain had been a huge revolution supposed to revolutionize the global financial system in 2017, but it had caused disappointment in 2018.

Even so, many of Blockchain-related businesses are still innovative, and some are to be exploited. Moreover, some big corporations are set to launch Blockchain-based projects in 2019. Therefore, this year is the time of normalizing Blockchain for people. For instance, MIT considers the involvement of big Wall Street companies like New York Stock Exchange owner, i.e., Intercontinental Exchange, and their hefty investments in cryptocurrency businesses as one of the reasons for the revolution in this industry.

Another reason introduced in this article is the development of smart contracts, which can be applied in legal cases; as a result, the saying “code is the law” can be realized more comfortably. Smart contracts are a piece of code that are signed between two people, thus eliminating the need for a third party or excessive costs to draw up the contracts. This idea was first proposed in 1990 and then planned for by Ethereum in 2013. The last point of discussion in this article is that the normalization of Blockchain technology can lead to evolutions in the ideological structure directing cryptocurrencies and Blockchain. The role of cryptocurrencies as an anti-government movement is about to end, and it will have a different role henceforth. The reason, according to this article, is the development of national cryptocurrencies such as Petro in Venezuela. Even though this particular cryptocurrency is more like a fraud, 15 other countries have stated that they intended to create their own national cryptocurrency in the coming year. Furthermore, another piece of good news published in the fall of 2018 to further help normalize Blockchain, is the support on the part of Christine Lagarde, IMF chairman, from the central bank-backed cryptocurrencies (CBDCs).

The advent of cryptocurrencies created and verified by governments is at odds with the original purpose of these cryptocurrencies. All of the above reasons besides Blockchain involvement in the areas related to governments can clearly prove that in the year 2019, Blockchain will be exciting no more.